Summary:
Harry thought Hermione doesn’t understand about Quidditch at all. He was WRONG.
Notes:
I believe Hermione was just not interested in Quidditch THAT MUCH and got tired about how boys are more interested in flying in dangerous situations than studying. However, she’s a useless nerd so she’s very familiar about Quidditch tactics and moves.
[Slight AU, set in HBP, Ginny Weasley doesn’t have romantic thoughts about Harry, and Harry doesn’t have a monster in his chest screaming about Ginny, and there’s no lucky potions involved. Some content borrowed from HBP. English is not my first language, so plz pardon my grammar mistakes…]
“Stop tapping on your Quidditch board, Harry, ” Hermione said, gritting her teeth. “It’s rather annoying. I have a two-feet long paper on Arithmancy, for Merlin’s sake. “
Harry stopped immediately, sighing, and rubbed his hair in frustration, “I’m sorry, Hermione, it’s just… I’m really worried about THAT match, It’s my first as captain, and it would be terrible if I blow it… “
Hermione looked up from her paper briefly, measuring Gryffindor Quidditch Captain quickly but in a very careful way, then lowered her head again, “… Slytherin’s captain is an impatient guy, you just have to fake your moves as a seeker, for a few more times, they-especially their seeker- will pay their attention to you, the whole Slytherin team will be headless.”
Harry paused. This is new. “I thought you don’t care about Quidditch. “
“I DON’T, but I have eyes. ” Hermione did not stop writing, but Harry saw the confident smile on her lips, he knew she was more than just “have eyes”.
“…Slytherin’s players are okay, but they are also quite egotistical, and if we use Hawkshead Attacking Formation against them, it will take a lot of pressure off of us,”Hermione continued, without looking at him.
“Wow, ” Harry looked at her in pure curiosity, propping his chin in the palm as he completely dropped his board. “I never knew Hermione Granger had such excellent Quidditch tactical command. “
“Oh, Cap’n, you don’t have to play in the field to understand Quidditch. I can read, ” Hermione said, raising her chin proudly, then looked at her paper again. “So hush now, Harry, don’t make another sound,” Hermione blamed softly, but Harry sure saw the bright smile on her face.
It was a nice day for a match, Harry glanced at the ceiling and saw a clear, pale blue sky: a good omen. Harry approached, and Hermione passed him, whispering in his ear, “C’mon, CAPTAIN, remember what I said.” She patted Harry on the arm and pushed him toward the table already filled with Quidditch players.
Harry felt a swooping sensation in his stomach, he stared at her as she walked off to sat down between girls. He took a deep breath, sat down with his team, “Okay guys… “
The whistle sounded, Harry and the others kicked off hard from the frozen ground, and they were away.
Harry soared around the perimeter of the grounds, looking around for the Snitch and keeping one eye on Slytherin’s seeker, who was zigzagging far below him, and was pleased to see that Hermione’s tactics had worked. The triangle shape of Ginny, Demirza and Dean was a great distraction for Slytherin, and Poor Ron was finally able to relaxed a little.
“Oh, and here comes Slytherin’s first attempt on goal, it’s Urquhart streaking down the pitch and—”
Harry’s stomach turned over.
“—Weasley saves it, well, he’s bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose. ”
Harry let out a breath of relief, and dived among the chasers, his eyes was searching for the Snitch.
With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, and Ginny having scored four of Gryffindor’s six goals. This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there because Harry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead.
“Of course, Coote isn’t really the usual build for a Beater,” said Zacharias loftily, “they’ve generally got a bit more muscle—”
“Hit a Bludger at him!” Harry called to Coote as he zoomed past, but Coote, grinning broadly, chose to aim the next Bludger at Harper instead, who was just passing Harry in the opposite direction. Harry was pleased to hear the dull thunk that meant the Bludger had found its mark.
“Woollongong Shimmy, Demirza! ” Harry shouted at his team, and the chaser zigzagged her way and managed to snatch the Quaffle from Slytherin.
“Thinks you’re something special today, do you?” said a snide voice, and Harry was nearly knocked off his broom as Harper collided with him hard and deliberately. “You pathetic fake moves…”
Madam Hooch’s back was turned, and though Gryffindors below shouted in anger, by the time she looked around, Harper had already sped off. His shoulder aching, Harry raced after him, determined to ram him back.
“And I think Harper of Slytherin’s seen the Snitch!” said Zacharias Smith through his megaphone. “Yes, he’s certainly seen something Potter hasn’t!”
Smith really was an idiot, thought Harry, hadn’t he noticed them collide? But next moment, his stomach seemed to drop out of the , sky — Smith was right and Harry was wrong: Harper had not sped upward at random; he had spotted what Harry had not: The Snitch was speeding along high above them, glinting brightly against the clear blue sky.
Harry accelerated; the wind was whistling in his ears so that it drowned all sound of Smith’s commentary or the crowd, but Harper was still ahead of him, and Gryffindor was only a hundred points up; if Harper got there first Gryffindor had lost…
Harry made a desperate move, he flew straight to Harper and fake a punch to his nose.
As if in slow motion, he saw Harper’s shocked, terrified face. Harper did a double-take; he fumbled the Snitch, let it slip through his fingers, and shot right past it. Harry made a great swipe for the tiny, fluttering ball and caught it.
“YES!” Harry yelled. Wheeling around, he hurtled back toward the ground, the Snitch held high in his hand. As the crowd realized what had happened, a great shout went up that almost drowned the sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game.
The atmosphere in the changing room was jubilant.
“Party up in the common room, Seamus said!” yelled Dean exuberantly. “C’mon, Ginny, Demelza!”
Harry could not see Ron at the Gryffindor celebration party, which was in full swing when he arrived. Renewed cheers and clapping greeted his appearance, and he was soon surrounded by a mob of people congratulating him. What with trying to shake off the Creevey brothers, who wanted a blow-by-blow match analysis, and the large group of girls that encircled him, laughing at his least amusing comments and batting their eyelids, it was some time before he could try and find Ron. At last, he extricated himself from Romilda Vane, who was hinting heavily that she would like to go to Slughorn’s Christmas party with him. As he was ducking toward the drinks table, he walked straight into Hermione, Crookshanks mewing hopefully at her heels.
“Looking for Ron?” she asked, smirking. “He’s over there, the filthy hypocrite.”
Harry looked into the corner she was indicating. There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.
“It looks like he’s eating her face, doesn’t it?” said Hermione dispassionately.
Harry measuring Hermione for a moment. “You really don’t mind if Ron and Lavender… ? “
“Come on, Harry, ” Hermione shrugged, sipping her butter beer. “Little Brown winked at Ron for half a semester. “
“Does this mean you’re not mad at Ron? ” Harry asked cautiously.
Hermione rolled her eyes. “He’s going to have to apologize for his recent unpleasant behavior, or I’m still not gonna talk to him. “
Fair enough, Harry thinks, Ron had been a completely asshole.
“Good job, by the way. The Transylvanian Tackle was astonishing. “
Harry raised his eyebrow. Impressive, Harper must’ve been the only one who saw it.
“What? I used the Omnioculars you gave me last year, ” Hermione explained as she knew THAT look perfectly.
Wow. Brilliant.
“So-, Hermione, ” Harry scratched his head awkwardly, “I haven’t officially thanked you for your tactical support. You saved my captaincy, kept me from being yelled by McGonagall… “
Hermione laughed. Professor McGonagall’s obsession with Quidditch was almost as intense as her obsession with Transfiguration, and no one wants to see her freak out. “Don’t say that, Harry. You’re gonna be a great Quidditch Captain. “
“But how about accompanying me to the prefect’s patrol as a thank you? ” Hermione Granger finished his last sip of beer and put down her glass.
“Oh, of course. I’d love to, ” Harry said with relief, blushing.
“I’ll go get my badge. Meet me at the door, CAP’N. We’ll have so much fun. ” Hermione smiled at him and kissed him quickly on the cheek.
Harry touched the spot where Hermione kissed and smiled as she walking to dorm. A prefect’s nighty patrol after a Quidditch match? It’ll be fun.
R. H. Felidae Athena 